A Daily Walk

John Randall: Today on A Daily Walk, the unleashing of evil on a Christ-rejected world. No doubt you're aware of many of the things that are going on within this world that are evil. Different things that are taking place throughout our country and throughout the world globally. But friends, what we're seeing now pales in comparison to what's coming. Right now, evil to an extent is being restrained. There's coming a day, the Bible makes it clear, when the Lord takes His hands off and suddenly that which is supernatural invades the natural. Evil, unprecedented, shows its face.

Guest (Male): Welcome again to A Daily Walk. We'll be joined by Pastor John Randall in a moment, who today picks up where we left off in Revelation. At this point of the tribulation, people are now subject to supernatural tormenting of demonic spirits. You think it's bad now? It's going to be far worse when all this goes down. Here's Pastor John to tell us all about it.

John Randall: Revelation chapter nine, with a message entitled The Unleashing of Evil. I want to begin, first of all, in the last verse there, Revelation 8:13, and I want you to follow along with me. John writes, "And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!'" Chapter nine, verse one. "Then the fifth angel sounded. And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

Then out of the smoke, locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any green tree, but only those men who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days, men will seek death and not find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them."

No doubt you're aware of many of the things that are going on within this world that are evil. Different things that are taking place throughout our country and throughout the world globally. Friends, what we're seeing now pales in comparison to what's coming. Right now, evil to an extent is being restrained. There's coming a day, the Bible makes it clear, when the Lord takes His hands off and suddenly that which is supernatural invades the natural. Evil, unprecedented, shows its face. At this point in the book of Revelation, the apostle John was given a day coming in the future where the judgment of God would come upon a Christ-rejected world.

Following the rapture of the church, Jesus Christ calls His church home. The trumpet sounds. We're caught up to be with the Lord in the air. At that moment, the preserving influence of the work of the Holy Spirit through the church is removed, which then gives way to seven years of tribulation that come upon the earth. It begins with seal judgments that include the appearance of the Antichrist, great warfare and conflict in the world, famine, disease, and also martyrdom of those who miss the rapture who come to faith in Christ after the church is taken. There's a devastating earthquake causing terrible destruction and astronomical upheaval.

The Bible says that in the midst of the sixth seal judgment, men will be crying out in fear. They'll be saying in Revelation chapter six, "Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who can stand?" The seventh seal is opened and it introduces the seven trumpet judgments. Right before the trumpets are about to sound, there is a moment of silence in heaven for thirty minutes. Then the trumpets begin to blast. Within the first four trumpet judgments, we saw hail and fire that destroy much of the planet's plant life and aquatic life. There was also a darkening of the sun and the moon.

Revelation chapter eight, verse thirteen, has a startling announcement of three woes that are about to unfold upon the earth in the form of unprecedented evil being unleashed. The first four trumpet judgments get the attention of the world, but the last three trumpet judgments will last longer, be more intense, and more devastating than the first four. There is a real spiritual battle that takes place all around us that we cannot see. Certainly we see the effects of it in our society, in our culture, but we can't see the soldiers that are fighting. There is good and there is evil. There is heaven and there is hell.

There are forces of darkness that are at war with the forces of light. There is a real devil and demons, and there is a real God and His angels, and they are in a spiritual conflict, and we are caught in the middle of it. The apostle John was against and that is opposed to us in Ephesians chapter six, verse twelve. He said, "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places." Again, folks, when you look around the world, we see the increase of evil. When you see more and more evil prevailing, when you see men calling evil good and good evil, understand the devil's behind it. It's his agenda.

The Bible exhorts us not to be ignorant of Satan's devices. He is the accuser of the brethren. He's called the angel of light, the father of lies, a roaring lion, the prince of the power of the air, and the ruler of this world. Our enemy is very skilled in the art of temptation with one goal in mind: destruction. With every attack, every foothold he seeks to establish, the end result is having a stronghold in your life to render you inactive in the service of the Lord. He tailor-fits his attacks and onslaughts to fit the person and their potential weakness. He doesn't fight alone, because as powerful as he may be, he's not omniscient or omnipresent.

He's not worthy to be compared to our God, who is all-powerful. The Bible says greater is He that is in us than he that is in this world. Anybody believe that this morning? The Bible tells us that our adversary has those to assist him in the battle. They're called principalities, which from Scripture imply high-ranking officers, those who are in charge of the other demonic forces. There are also powers, which speaks of delegated authorities that gather information and implement schemes. Then there are rulers of darkness of this age, those whom the enemy has in his service for the sole purpose of keeping the world in darkness.

Thus, the devil has invented every false religious system and ideology of man for the purpose of keeping men blinded to the truth of the life-saving message of the gospel. Folks, we are under spiritual attack, but thankfully, through Jesus Christ, we stand against the forces of darkness and we are victorious. The Bible tells us that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ, who loved us and gave Himself for us. You are a victor today, not a victim. In Revelation chapter nine, we see some of these demonic beings that are suddenly given the permission allowed to attack mankind as the spiritual world now invades the natural world.

The first thing that we see is the opening of the bottomless pit. It says in verse one that the fifth angel sounds, and a star fallen from heaven to the earth was given the key to the bottomless pit. When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, the apostle John says what he saw looked like a star falling from heaven to the earth. Throughout the book of Revelation, we've already seen several stars fall from heaven and bring cataclysmic wreckage. This star that John refers to is not celestial matter. It's actually a person or a created being. John refers to the star as "him", to "him" was given the key to the bottomless pit.

He also tells us that this star was fallen from heaven. It's used in what is called the present tense participle that simply emphasizes an event that took place in the past and has continuing results. Who is this star that is given the key and permission to open the bottomless pit? Some suggest that it may be Satan himself. Isaiah chapter fourteen describes our adversary. "How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you said in your heart, 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit."

Isaiah describes prophetically, looking back to the past of when Satan fell, how he desired to be worshiped as God, declared himself to be God, and God removed him. The Bible tells us with also a third of the angels who became his demonic spirits. Reminiscent of what Jesus said in Luke's gospel in chapter ten. You remember that Jesus said in Luke 10:18, "And I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." In light of these passages, some suggest that the star that fell is none other than the devil himself. At this point in the tribulation period, he's given the key. He's given authority to open the bottomless pit.

He opens it and smoke arises out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Out of the pit, locusts came upon the earth. The Greek word for "bottomless pit" is where we get our English word abyss. It's found seven times in Revelation, chapter nine, verse eleven, chapter eleven, chapter seventeen, chapter twenty, and so forth. In biblical writings, the word abyss means depth or underworld. It can refer to physical depths of the earth or the dwelling place of departed spirits who are awaiting release or judgment from God.

In Luke chapter eight, when Jesus was confronted by the demon-possessed man in Gadara, the demonic spirits who had taken possession of this man's body begged Jesus not to send them to the abyss, or the prison for demons, until it was time. Jesus sent them into the swine, and the swine ran over the cliff and drowned. In Revelation chapter twenty, we see that Satan himself will be confined to the abyss for a thousand years during the millennial reign of Christ. The Bible says that God has sovereignly chosen to incarcerate some demonic spirits in a pit of punishment.

Second Peter chapter two, verse four, says it this way: "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment." There are some demonic spirits who are currently incarcerated in this place, as Peter says. During the tribulation period, the Lord allows the enemy to release some of these demonic spirits and they begin to attack those who are on the earth. We are given a description of these demonic spirits. It says when he opened the bottomless pit, they come out and the smoke comes out and locusts came upon the earth. To them was given power as scorpions of the earth have power.

Suddenly as the pit opens, smoke rises and along with it, John says there were locusts that were similar to scorpions. These are not your everyday natural locusts. These are actually demons that are released to torment mankind spiritually, physically, and in every other way conceivable. In the Old Testament, locusts were greatly feared because of the damage that they could do to the crops in a country. Frequently in the Bible, locusts were actually used by the Lord as divine judgment upon a wicked world. Did you know that locusts can travel in columns 100 feet deep and 4 miles long?

When a horde of locusts appear, it actually looks like a solar eclipse because they blanket the sky. The destruction that literal locusts cause is like fire burning the earth. Locusts can destroy an entire area, their swarms leaving everything bare. Historically, it's actually been recorded that some of the largest plagues of locusts have blanketed up to 2,000 square miles. One of the plagues that came upon Egypt was locusts, and Pharaoh pleaded with Moses and Aaron to remove this death from him. A similar plague was mentioned in Joel in chapter one. It consumes everything in its path.

As these demonic spirits are released, their power is limited but they have one mission. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the sting of a scorpion. In those days, men will seek death but they won't be able to find it. They'll desire to die, but death will flee from them. These demonic creatures during the tribulation are given specific instructions with limited power. They weren't to touch any remaining vegetation.

They were given a timeframe of five months to torment those without the seal of God on their foreheads. It was said that their torment was like the sting of a scorpion. Depending on the type of scorpion that stings you, the side effects can be severe: convulsion, paralysis, pain. We can't imagine the deadly venom that these demons have. The pain so great that men are saying, "I just want to die." If they died without repenting in the midst of their pain, they would perish for eternity. Yet even in the sting, God allows them to survive so that they still have time to repent. That's grace.

The sting that sin can bring to a life is painful. The Lord warns us that sin is pleasurable for a season, but in the end, it brings forth destruction, pain and heartbreak, and guilt and shame accompanies a life of sin and distance from God. God gives us a free will to make a decision. We can choose to sin and be in pain emotionally and physically. In His grace, sometimes the Lord uses that very pain and the consequences of our sinful decisions to open our eyes to see our need for Him, to bring us to the end of ourselves.

The psalmist declared in Psalm 119, verse 67, "Before I was afflicted, before I felt pain, I went astray, but now I keep Your word." You're living a life of sin and rebellion against God. You say you believe in God, but you go on sinning like He does not exist. The guilt and the shame follows. There are moments when you are alone and you know it's not right what you're doing or what you're involved with. The fact is we love our sin more than we love God oftentimes, and we're in bondage and we don't know how to get out.

Jesus Christ has the power to deliver you from the bondage of sin. But you have to turn to Him and repent of your sin. Before our time is over, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do just that this morning. You have to turn from sin. John is translated into the future and he sees something he has never seen before. That's why eleven times he said it was "like". It was reminiscent of this. He's trying to describe what he saw in these demonic hordes. He describes their shape. It says they were like horses ready for battle.

When you read and you think of a horse that's prepared for battle, what you envision is raw power, ready to move and trample whatever it encounters within the battlefield. The word for crown is actually a victor's crown, that these hordes move forward, they are unstoppable. Mankind won't be able to fight against them or to resist them. There's no weapon of warfare that can withstand their attack. John is trying to describe what he's seeing here. They had human-like features. They had hair like women's hair. Their teeth were like lions' teeth.

Lions have three types of teeth, by the way, used for gripping and tearing. Did you know a lion can open up his jaws 28 centimeters wide, which gives them one of the largest bites in the animal kingdom? These guys had teeth and their breastplates were like iron, that is they were unstoppable. Their armor was impenetrable, and their tails were like scorpions. These creatures, when they are let go out of the bottomless pit that is currently closed and restrained, when they arrive, they are both deadly and frightening.

Apollyon means destroyer. Some suggest this is the devil himself, while others say it's one of the high-ranking demonic spirits. Regardless of who he is, we know that this is true nature and character of Satan unmasked. He has one desire, and that's to destroy men's lives. That's the desire of the devil. One job, one goal: to destroy mankind. To keep as many people out of heaven as possible and take as many people to hell with him as he can. That's his goal, and that's why Jesus came to be the savior from the destroyer.

That's why Jesus came and died on a cross for your sin and rose again on the third day so that you could be delivered from what's coming. Notice this: the devil, the prince of the power of the air, disguises his intentions, promises people prosperity and blessing. But now his true intentions are seen. He's seen for what he is. The Scriptures reveal that in addition to the natural plagues of the first four trumpets, men will be subject now to supernatural torments of demonic spirits. The first two woes have passed, behold two more are still to come.

This fearful torment inflicted by the locusts out of the pit of the abyss is only the first of three great judgments. Then comes the sixth trumpet that sounds. It says the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God saying to the sixth angel who has a trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." As the sixth angel sounds the sixth trumpet, John hears a command given from the four horns of the golden altar there in heaven.

The command is given to release four angels who are bound at the river Euphrates. Four angels, more than likely again in the context, these are evil demonic spirits. Not holy angels, but unholy. These particular four have been bound there for some specific time and specific mission of judgment, and now they are released and all the destructive forces of hell break loose during this time. None of that compares to what's about to be unleashed during the Great Tribulation period coming on the earth.

Guest (Male): It's hard to imagine things being worse than they are now, but it will be far worse during the tribulation. You've been listening to A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall. We've been in the book of Revelation today, just part of our through the Bible journey. You can listen to the study again at adailywalk.org or oneplace.com. It's also available through the Calvary South OC app. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, "If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

That beautiful verse served as the inspiration of a book we'd like to send your way called If My People, a prayer guide for our nation. Written by Jack Countryman, this will no doubt stir your heart and mind as you read seven noteworthy prayers from past presidents. They were inspired during some of our country's darkest days. This prayer guide not only reminds the reader that in God we still trust, but also brings some measure of hope for our country, just when we need it.

You can order that today online at adailywalk.org or call us at 877-242-0828. The cost is just eight dollars, and anything given above that amount will help us deliver God's word on stations like this one all across the great USA and around the world. Again call 877-242-0828 or donate online at adailywalk.org. We'll finish up Pastor John Randall's message, The Unleashing of Evil, next time on A Daily Walk.